Christon Gray is giving listeners a behind-the-scenes look at the making of School of Roses, his forthcoming debut album for Collision Records.
The 14-track project draws from Gray’s experiences with love, temptation, failure, marriage and faith. Rather than separating those subjects into clean categories, he treats them as parts of the same life, including the moments that are difficult to explain or flattering to revisit.
That transparency is central to School of Roses. Gray uses the album’s title to describe life as a classroom where beauty and pain often teach at the same time. The record documents that education without presenting him as someone who has already mastered the material.
Musically, the project continues Gray’s refusal to remain inside one genre. He moves between R&B, soul, pop and hip-hop, sometimes singing and rapping within the same song. Features from Swoope, JGivens, Wes Pendleton, Taelor Gray and B. Reith add different voices without turning the album into a guest-list exercise.
The tracklist includes “Vanish,” Gray’s collaboration with Swoope, along with “Wanna,” “Windchaser,” “Convenient” and “Lady Gray (Easy to Love).” Three songs carrying the “Roses” name divide the album into sections, while “Arena (The Final Hour)” closes the project.
The behind-the-scenes documentary follows Gray and the Collision Records team during the recording process, capturing the producers, musicians and conversations involved in turning the album’s personal subject matter into finished songs.
School of Roses will be released March 25 through Collision Records. The album is available for preorder through iTunes for $6.99 ahead of its $9.99 release-day price.
Watch a behind-the-scenes look at the making of School of Roses below.
School of Roses Tracklist
- The Last Time
- Wanna featuring JGivens
- Windchaser
- Vanish featuring Swoope
- Roses 101: After All
- Hello or Goodbye
- Moving On
- Convenient featuring Wes Pendleton
- SuperDave
- Roses 102: Burning House
- Nostalgious featuring Taelor Gray and B. Reith
- Lady Gray (Easy to Love)
- Roses 103: Ghost
- Arena (The Final Hour)